A tricky one. The book has no routines as such, but it’s the application of the theories that could potentially test us all.

They say :

About the Book
• Ever wanted to make that leap from entertaining a few people to several hundred?
• Ever wanted to make your audience laugh so much that they remember you as much for your comedy as your magic?
• Ever wanted to earn your living as a stand-up?

Stand-up, A Professional Guide to Comedy Magic explains all the techniques required to achieve these goals. It is a step by step manual on how to combine comedy with magic, from writing original lines through to developing your stage persona to maximizing the benefits of audience participation.
But this book is no theoretical treatise; it is based on ‘real world’ experience, supported by numerous contributions from today’s top stand-ups.

I Say :

What en exellent book. It’s a real book. Beautiful dust sheet, hard cover and over 250 pages. Paid on Friday and received the next day! Thank you Ian Keable.

I love this book. I actually feel that the title is a little misleading as the book offer so much more than the title suggests. Ian Keable is an astute but honest author, including quotes, theory, practical and his own anecdotal words to make what is a compelling read.

The Chapters include; Comedy, Character, Lines, Finding and Breaking in Lines, Other Patter Matters, Involving Assistants, Questioning Assistants, Selecting Assistants, Types of Assistant, More than the Sum of the Parts, Dealing with the Unexpected, Keeping Fresh, Before going on Stage, The Professional Stand-Up, Final Thoughts.

So you can see that it really is more of an A-Z of honing your act, funny or otherwise.

The book won’t quite make you funny if you are not, but it will show you how to fine tune what you do and be better prepared for the unexpected.

It’s a very practical book. The kind you read once, then read again, and begin picking out hints and tips, self evaluating and more.

Overall :

I cannot fault this book. Look at the chapter headings and see how much solid material there is. There has to be something for everyone here. It’s not in your face, it’s just solid, proven, practical and thought provoking prose.

I've been enjoying this book and agree that it helps to give a structure to adding comedy to your routines.

It mainly deals with comedy magic shows that you would book for corporate events, cruises etc, so that might be something to bear in mind if you are a close up magician or looking for some other style of performing.

One other thing that I noticed, was that it is full of quotes from other people,magician a said this...magician b said this...another magician said this...

Which is all well and good to have another magicians opinion, but it's all the way through the book, and it does feel a little like the book is just a collection of quotes from other books. I think that the quoting from other sources could have been toned down just a little.